This edition of Fair or Foul features Rich Couthino of CBS New York, who says the Mets stack up well in the power department now that the NL has been weakened by the losses of Pujols and Fielder.

The National League may experience a power shortage in 2012 as two of the biggest bats the league possessed — Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols have cleaned out their lockers and are headed for the junior circuit. Add in the fact that Ryan Braun will miss the season’s first 5o games and Ryan Howard’s skills might be diminished by a ruptured Achilles (at least in the short-term) you realize the National League has lost a lot of thump. And this is good news for the Mets who – quite frankly – have as many potential power bats in their lineup as any team in the league with the exception of the Cardinals and the Reds.

Think about it — a healthy Ike Davis, the continued progress of Lucas Duda and David Wright benefiting from the New CitiField dimensions and you potentially have a pretty good trio of power bats compared to some of the other lineups in the league. And we have not even considered a bounce back year from Jason Bay yet. As much as the Marlins have improved, they will be hoping Mike Stanton continues his rise to star status as much as the Mets are expecting a big year from Ike Davis. The Nationals? They will need both Ryan Zimmerman AND Jayson Werth to have big power years and if the Phils lose Ryan Howard, they will be hoping the duo of Chase Utley and Hunter Pence will carry the lunch until Howard returns to healthy status. The Braves? Brian McCann and Dan Uggla seem to be the only givens for big power numbers.

Particularly against the NL East teams, the Mets do stack up well – especially if Duda and Davis rake at the plate this year. I’m curious to see what kind of a difference the newly shortened dimensions at Citi Field will have on Bay and Wright.

I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction and interact with other passionate Met fans like you. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.

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